Ultra-fast annealing manipulated spinodal nano-decomposition in Mn-implanted Ge

Chaoming Liu, René Hübner, Yufang Xie, Mao Wang, C Xu, Zenan Jiang, Ye Yuan, Xingji Li, Jianqun Yang, Ling-wei Li, Eugen Weschke, Slawomir Prucnal, Manfred Helm, Shengqiang Zhou

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

4 Scopus citations

Abstract

In the present work, millisecond-range flash lamp annealing is used to recrystallize Mn-implanted Ge. Through systematic investigations of structural and magnetic properties, we find that the flash lamp annealing produces a phase mixture consisting of spinodally decomposed Mn-rich ferromagnetic clusters within a paramagnetic-like matrix with randomly distributed Mn atoms. Increasing the annealing energy density from 46, via 50, to 56 J/cm2 causes the segregation of Mn atoms into clusters, as proven by transmission electron microscopy analysis and quantitatively confirmed by magnetization measurements. According to X-ray absorption spectroscopy, the dilute Mn ions within Ge are in d5 electronic configuration. This Mn-doped Ge shows paramagnetism, as evidenced by the unsaturated magnetic-field-dependent X-ray magnetic circular dichroism signal. Our study reveals how spinodal decomposition occurs and influences the formation of ferromagnetic Mn-rich Ge-Mn nanoclusters.
Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)054001
JournalNanotechnology
Volume30
Issue number5
DOIs
StatePublished - Nov 30 2018

Bibliographical note

KAUST Repository Item: Exported on 2020-10-01
Acknowledgements: Authors acknowledge the ion implantation group at HZDR. This work is supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 11775061). The funding of TEM Talos by the German Federal Ministry of Education of Research (BMBF), Grant No. 03SF0451, in the framework of HEMCP is gratefully acknowledged. The author C. L. thanks the financial support by Chinese Scholarship Council (File No. 201706125070).

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